August 20, 1986

Litton Industries filed a $30 million lawsuit yesterday against Shearson Lehman American Express and Dennis B. Levine, a former employee who has pleaded guilty in the largest insider trading case in Wall Street history. The suit is the first civil action brought by an outside party contending that it was hurt by the actions of Mr. Levine and others. Litton said that it overpaid by about $30 million in its 1983 acquisition of the Itek Corporation because of insider trading by Mr. Levine and others who consciously or unconsciously copied his trades.

When the world was younger and they were in their prime, Ernest Jacobs and Solomon Goldstein were two New Yorkers who inhabited different worlds. Mr. Jacobs was a New York mounted police officer patrolling the Broadway theater district. Dr. Goldstein was a physician in Flatbush treating middle-class families. Both men, strangers to each other, retired and moved t Florida. I time, retirement weighed heavily on them, and now their worlds have merged. Dr. Goldstein, 75 years old, and Mr. Jacobs, 67, now a registered nurse, are part of a mobile MediVan team that delivers medical care to the elderly poor in the Fort Lauderdale area, where some 350,000 men and women over the age of 60 now live. The two men are among a growing number of retired medical workers in Florida who are donating their time and skills to the elderly.

On the front porch of an old farmhouse here, Earl and Barbara Askins settled into rocking chairs and gazed at the gentle waves lapping against the wooded shore of Keuka Lake. ''You can feel the stillness,'' said Ms. Askins, a business executive from a Baltimore suburb. ''It's so peaceful, so serene - so unlike what we're used to.'' In the distance, the majestic bluffs and gorges, lush vineyards and deep, blue waters cast a soothing spell upon the Finger Lakes region, which was sculpted centuries ago by glaciers. And the small villages along the winding roads, which Mennonite farmers still travel in horse-drawn buggies, evoke a sense of a slower and simpler era.

Venture capitalists, who provide the seed money for risky but promising new businesses in the hope of giant returns, say the proposed revision of the tax system will harm newborn companies that have become so important to the economy. They argue that entrepreneurs deserve credit for creating jobs and economic growth. Some of the most prominent names in technology - from the Data General Corporation to Apple Computer Inc. to the Rolm Corporation - received their initial sustenance from venture capitalists and benefited from the dedication of entrepreneurs who broke away from the corporate world to try to strike it rich. But the tax bill, these critics say, will make venture capital less attractive for investors, diminishing the supply of funds to inventors and other entrepreneurs. Also, they add, successful entrepreneurs who finally profit by selling some of their shares will pocket less than under current law.

While the tax bill has stirred expressions of euphoria among leaders in Washington, it is being greeted with less enthusiasm by political leaders around the country. They say that voters have yet to understand the law fully and are fearful that some provisions may raise their taxes. Nonetheless, many politicians and polltakers interviewed today said the bill could prove popular, since it will help many more taxpayers than it hurts. And several said that the general theme of a fairer tax system had begun to penetrate the public imagination.